Dezeen School Shows: a park in downtown LA built beside a railway station is included in Dezeen’s latest school show by students at the University of Southern California.

Also included is a scheme that aims to implement landscape architecture methods that stop diseases from spreading, as well as a project examining the impact of wildfires.

University of Southern California

Institution: University of Southern California
School: School of Architecture
Course: Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism
Tutors: Alexander Robinson, Jessica Henson, Aroussiak Gabrielian, Jennifer Toy, David Maestres, Greg Kochanowski and Aja Bulla-Richards

School statement:

“Landscapes are the dynamic synthesis of natural systems, sociocultural forces and the physical material of the constructed world.

“The USC Graduate Programme in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (MLA and U) prepares students to be leaders ready to take on challenges of climate change and environmental injustice through the design and planning of landscapes across scales.

“Landscape architecture is a broad field that encompasses the design of a complex range of environments outside our buildings.

“Our programme is focused on the public realm, spanning scales of impact from site design to urban design and infrastructure to territorial responses to climate stress that impact our immediate region and around the globe.

“With access to one of the most culturally and environmentally diverse geographies in the world – a biodiversity hotspot within an hour’s drive from the Pacific Ocean, the San Gabriel Mountains and the western edge of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts – Southern California offers a robust laboratory from which to learn, while offering applications all over the globe.

“The programme has formalised its priority areas in environmental, social and climate justice through the Landscape Justice Initiative.

“The initiative strengthens the programme’s standing commitment to applied research and practice in communities that design has not historically reached.

“It includes Test Plot, a programme focused on the future of land care.

“The Landscape Futures Lab offers a rigorous curriculum in biodesign and material experimentation, and the Los Angeles River Integrated Design Lab provides a hydraulic modelling facility that engages students first-hand with the complex hydrological pressures of urbanisation today.

“Students graduate from the MLA and U programme with a proactive toolkit to address the impacts of climate stress on vulnerable humans, species and natural systems.”

The Tidepools by Danielle Vonlehe

“Catalina Island is located 47 miles from Los Angeles. Notable for its magnificent kelp forests, the Catalina Island Fox and minimal human development, this dynamic coastal ecology is integral to the biodiversity of the southern California region.

“This project, executed during the first semester of the three-year MLA programme at USC, is a translation of tidepool ecology from Cata­lina Island to a barren concrete square on the USC Campus.

“The ground is structured on five different levels. Three high and two low levels correspond to the three high tides and two low tides per day on Catalina Island.

“The design is a multifunctional assemblage that takes into account the university’s circulation – some areas serve as intimate spaces in which to study or think, while others offer more expansive space to host large social groups or an outdoor class.

“A path matching the USC grid cuts through the more curvilinear plan to be conducive to heavy foot traffic. All materials and planting are representative of geologic and vegetative patterns on Cata­lina Island.”

Student: Danielle Vonlehe
Course: Studio 1 of 6 – Introduction to Landscape Architecture Design
Tutor: Alexander Robinson
Email: dani[at]terremoto.la

Superhighways to Superblooms by Andrea Binz

“Pollution in Burbank and Glendale is among the worst in all of California and mainly stems from freeway traffic.

“We have spent decades and billions of dollars expanding highways to ‘solve’ gridlock, but this strategy has failed – conversely, removing or narrowing roads can reduce traffic.

“A framework plan is proposed to address the high burden of traffic and pollution in Burbank and Glendale. The strategies include pollution mitigation with green infrastructure along existing roads, road diets, vehicle electrification, high-speed rail and public transit investment and reclaiming highways into linear parks.

“Roads and interchanges become linear parks, stormwater infrastructure and community hubs.

“The freeways cut through many of our most polluted, underserved communities, and as our transit patterns change we have the choice of how to remake them.

“As landscape architects, we can choose to promote a healthier, more equitable Los Angeles.”

Student: Andrea Binz
Course: Course: Studio 3 of 6: Edge Conditions
Tutor: Jessica Henson
Email: abinz[at]alumni.usc.edu

The Water Agency Project by Leslie Dinkin

“The Water Agency Project envisions transforming the grid-locked Los Angeles River, prioritising ecological and social benefits while also addressing flood and drought risks.

“Instead of displacing over 100,000 residents required for total river renaturalisation, the project suggests rerouting I-710 through the existing Alameda Corridor and implementing a River Rail system.

“This approach would double the size of the riverbed, creating space for a semi-naturalised, semi-urban river.

“The redesigned Los Angeles River includes features like low-flow braided channels, terraced banks, detention ponds, riparian woodlands, parks, multi-use trails, dry meadows, affordable housing and green streets connecting neighbourhoods to the river.”

Student: Leslie Dinkin
Course: Studio 3 of 6 – Sepulvida Basin
Tutor: Jessica Henson
Email: dinkin[at]usc.edu

Toward a Sustainable Seafood Future by Colin Amos and Andrea Binz

“Our oceans are increasingly threatened by overfishing. The current structure of the commercial fishing industry is exploitative of both the environment and working-class communities.

“To transform the industry and reestablish it from the bottom up, this project proposes a resilient and sustainable modular ‘aquahabitat’ system for Southern California that would generate kelp forest habitat and launch a new mariculture paradigm growing marketable local fish species alongside algae and shellfish.

“This integrated multi-trophic aquaculture approach creates a permeable, functional habitat to attract and serve wild marine populations while creating novel opportunities in the Blue economy and reconnecting communities with the ocean and our food sources.”

Students: Colin Amos and Andrea Binz
Course: Studio 4 of 6 – Landscape Beyond Land
Tutor: Aroussiak Gabrielian
Emails: colinamos45[at]gmail.com and abinz[at]theolinstudio.com

Wellness Against the Wires – An Alternative Approach to the Powerline Landscape by Wanxing Lin

“The site includes four types of transmission lines, power towers and one LADWP substation. Different land use types under power lines bring different potentials for urban space.

“Here are four types of relationships between the power line and the site that we could utilise to create variable experiences for spaces – expressive, implicit, hidden and exposed.

“Utilising all the ‘anti-EMF’, ‘anti-Noise’ and ‘anti-Heat’ kit of parts, the proposed framework, ‘powerline wire-zone revitalisation’, uses programming languages to bring a safe and wellness-minded open space back to the community.”

Student: Wanxing Lin
Course: Studio 5 of 6 – Corridor of Power: Designing a multi-sectorial framework for The Just City
Tutors: Jennifer Toy and David Maestres
Email: wanxingl[at]usc.edu

Dam(m/n)ed Earth by Jared Edgar McKnight

“This research project focuses on soil rebuilding processes through the introduction of mortuary composting burial procedures in the semi-arid endorheic basin of the Owens Valley, California.

“Excess salinity in this region is exacerbated by severe access to water issues and generations of contentious water politics and constructed hydrologic conditions, that have dammed/damned and depleted regional ecologies, habitats and resources.

“The proposal defines phased parameters for salinity remediation while redefining rituals of death to progressively restore the habitat through resilient green burial processes for rebuilding soils.

“This responsive system of burial morphologies thus awakens an interconnectedness between the burial plot and the dormant ecologies of its context, through an emotive, healing and emergent topography that unfolds and temporally evolves with one’s stages of grief and acceptance [or decomposition] over time.

“Could the future of our burial landscapes facilitate a new form of engagement, whereby our landscapes of life and death reconcile and reconfigure our roles and purpose through one’s own body as a measure of resiliency?

“Damned Earth was exhibited in ‘The Future of _____Space’ show at the A+D Museum in 2020.”

Student: Jared Edgar McKnight
Course: Studio 4 of 6 – Landscape at the Intersection of Life and Death
Tutor: Aroussiak Gabrielian
Email: jarededgarmcknight[at]alumni.usc.edu
Award: Winner of the ASLA Honor Award in the General Design category and the 2020 Student Excellence Award from the Society of American Registered Architects (SARAs)

Learning from Animal Adaptations to Wildfire by Diana Nightingale and Andrea Binz

“As wildfires in the San Gabriel Mountains become more frequent and severe, we need to expand our suite of management tools beyond firefighting and fuel clearance by seeking new inspiration.

“Around the world, wildlife has complex relationships and strategies for coexisting with wildfire.

“In this research project, animal adaptations to wildfire inform a land management framework designed to catalyse regeneration of habitat niches in post-fire landscapes to support ecological resilience.

“Framework goals include increasing soil moisture (beaver), developing a mosaic of ecosystems (woodpecker), promoting dynamic stability (beetle), and supporting soil ecosystem services (ground squirrel).

“Interventions respond to local topography, strategically reuse materials produced by wildfire cycles and engage forest management, residents and volunteers in land care.

“The post-fire landscape is re-imagined as an opportunity to reshape the land over time through natural processes, promote recovery and adaptation, and provide for wildlife.”

Students: Diana Nightingale and Andrea Binz
Course: Studio 6 of 6 – The Wild
Tutor: Greg Kochanowski and Aja Bulla-Richards
Email: dianalnightingale[at]gmail.com and abinz[at]alumni.usc.edu

Beyond Barriers by Viraj Chauhan

“Sepulveda Basin is a 2000-acre flood mitigation infrastructure in the heart of San Fernando Valley, LA.

“Yet, this massive public property is cut off from the communities closest to it due to a lack of accessibility due to transport and flood mitigation infrastructure and complimentary amenities.

“The project aims to reconnect the basin and its amenities to communities in dire need.

“It aims to increase biodiversity, habitat and shade equity in the region while naturalising the LA River and expanding the capacity and hydrological performance of the basin for flood mitigation.”

Student: Viraj Chauhan
Course: Studio 3 of 6 – Sepulvida Basin
Tutor: Jessica Henson
Email: vcchauha[at]usc.edu

Angel’s Knoll: A Los Angeles Landmark Park by Zhiya Azalea Huang

“Lying in the topographic heart of Downtown LA’s fevered cultural renaissance lies an incredible and seemingly disregarded treasure – a steep vacant lot bracketed by the antique funicular railway station named ‘Angel’s Landing’.

“The site resembles a perfect park, so much so that it was used as the generic park bench setting in a scene in the beloved romcom ‘500 Days of Summer’.

“On this site, the project proposes a verdant park and series of winding paths to link between the old downtown and new downtown, while also celebrating one of the last remaining undeveloped pieces of Los Angeles’s famous Bunker Hill.

“The project capitalises on the site’s natural assets and a growing interest in stair streets and pedestrian passages to create a dynamic Los Angeles landmark landscape.”

Student: Zhiya Azalea Huang
Course: Studio 1 of 6 – Translations and Dialectics
Tutor: Alexander Robinson
Email: zhiyahua[at]usc.edu

Resilient Fields: Enhancing Disease Prevention through Diverse Landscape Strategies by Adrian Porter

“When it comes to reducing pathogen burden and avoiding the chances of stripe rust spreading throughout the Central Valley, there has been only one singular solution towards its prevention.

“Breeding programmes – many of which have been operated by only a handful of companies – create gene-resistant varieties able to withstand the disease.

“However, over-prioritisation of breeding programmes as the only means of defence has allowed for spatial and temporal assemblages to become vulnerable to disease spread if gene resistance were to fail.

“This project looks at other landscape methods of stopping disease spread, such as windbreaks, topography and species diversity to create a stronger system of disease evasion and mitigation.”

Student: Adrian Porter
Course: Studio 4 of 6 – Edible Matters
Tutor: Aroussiak Gabrielian
Email: adrianpo[at]usc.edu

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the University of Southern California. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Ten landscape architecture projects by the University of Southern California appeared first on Dezeen.

Over the years I have learned to embrace a digital + analog hybrid workflow process. While most of my work goes straight to the computer, tablet, or mobile phone that I’m working on at the moment, I still like having a pen and paper with me at all times to jot down things I’m thinking about or things I need to do. There’s something therapeutic about writing it down rather than just typing it out so products that can give me that convenience are always welcome.

Designer: Cortex

The Sidekick Notepad is basically a writing pad where you can jot things down while having a meeting or while doing your normal, every day tasks. It is designed to fit either above or under your keyboard and is meant to be your “sidekick” if you’re like me that sometimes likes to put her to-do list on paper rather than on pixels. There’s a section to put the date, a huge section for notes, and then on the side, there’s a to-do list section with checkboxes so it’s easier to tick things off.

It’s not meant to be like a journal where you keep it even after the tasks or notes have served their purpose. It’s a tear-away kind of pad where you can just tear it off and then throw it (or compile it somewhere else if that’s your thing). You can also scan your notes for posterity and then save it on your preferred notes app. It doesn’t seem to have a dedicated app that can automatically scan and store things for you so you have to do it the manual way.

The Sidekick Notepad has 60 pages of Munken Lynx paper so if you run out, you’ll have to buy a new notepad since it’s not refillable. The cover is made from something called “Extract”, a paper made from recycled coffee cups. This adds another layer of things that I love so this product seems to be created especially for people like me who still can’t let go of the analog stuff.

The post Sidekick Notepad is a simple writing tool for the digital/analog hybrid workers first appeared on Yanko Design.

From skyscrapers by SHoP Architects and BIG to the world’s largest spherical structure in Las Vegas, we select 10 of this year’s most talked-about architecture projects in the United States as part of our 2023 review.

This year’s roundup of the biggest and best from the United States also includes some residential projects from New England to California, including a sculptural home in the Hamptons and a black-brick home in Washington.

Read on for Dezeen’s top 10 US architecture projects of 2023.

The Brooklyn Tower, New York City, by SHoP Architects

This 1,066-foot-tall (325 metres) skyscraper is the first supertall skyscraper in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The skyscraper is characterised by its blackened panels and bronze and copper pilasters, which make it stand out on the borough’s skyline.

The skyscraper holds luxury residential units and the interiors were informed by a historic bank that was attached to the structure at its base. The tower sparked debate in the architectural community and was selected by Dezeen’s readers as the year’s best skyscraper by an open poll.

Find out more about the Brooklyn Tower ›

The Gilder Center, New York City, by Studio Gang

Informed by cave formations, the Gilder Center is an extension of the American Museum of Natural History alongside Central Park in Manhattan.

An undulating stone facade conceals the cavern-like interior. The sloping walls and bridges were covered using Shotcrete, a method that allows concrete to be sprayed onto formwork.

Find out more about the Gilder Center ›

Oxford Triangle Home, Los Angeles, by Matthew Royce 

Glass, concrete, steel and wood characterise the facade of this home on a corner lot in Venice Beach. The front of the home is wrapped in a pool and patio and the site includes a wood-clad guest house.

Inspired by Iranian architecture, Royce, who designed the home for himself and his family, included some passive cooling elements such as subterranean reflecting pools.

Find out more about Oxford Triangle Home ›

MSG Sphere, Las Vegas, by Populous

This theatre in Las Vegas achieved double records. Not only is it the largest spherical structure in the world, its exterior is also fitted with the largest LED screen, which allows for any number of projections.

Large-scale visual displays are also a feature of the interior. The Sphere’s theatre has a massive sloping screen that allows for immersive concert experiences.

Find out more about MSG Sphere ›

The Spiral, New York City, BIG

The Spiral rises 1,031 feet (314 metres) into the air in the city’s Hudson Yards development and is the Danish studio’s first-ever supertall skyscraper.

Inspired by “ziggurats” the structure has a stepped facade that contains a terrace that wraps around the structure. The terrace has been planted with outdoor gardens and allows for outdoor access on each of the office building’s 66 storeys.

Find out more about The Spiral ›

(W)rapper Tower, Los Angeles, by Eric Owen Moss

Standing out against the low-lying structures in the vicinity, (W)rapper Tower is an office building with a T-shaped form outside of Los Angeles.

Built to be earthquake-resistant, the structure is characterised and named after the steel beams clad with a cementitious material that stretch from the interior to the exterior.

Find out more about (W)rapper Tower ›

Hamptons Home, Southhampton, by Timothy Godbold

This renovation of a 1970s house in the Hamptons included painting the trapezoidal exterior in black to distinguish its perched picture windows.

The architect, who lives in the house, took influences from the hideouts of James Bond movie villains and included industrial elements in the interior.

Find out more about Godbold’s Hamptons home ›

Blue Dream, East Hampton, Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Though completed in 2017, this home in the Hamptons in New York was kept under wraps for years. Its beachside location and expressive roof distinguish the home.

In order to accomplish the smooth, sculptural roof, the studio used a glass-reinforced polymer often used for boats and in the aerospace industry. The smooth lines of the roof continue to the interior.

Find out more about Blue Dream ›

The Rambler, Seattle, by GO’C

Located on a wooded site northwest of Seattle, the Rambler consists of a simple rectangular form placed on a concrete plinth. Black brick and glass characterise the exterior facade, with breeze-block walls at places to create semi-enclosed spaces.

The single-floor house includes an overhanging roof with soffits of Douglas fir and features an open floor plan.

Find out more about The Rambler ›

The Perelman Center, New York City, by REX

Part of the World Trade Center site, the Perelman Center is a performance art centre with an expressive facade made from thin pattern-matched marble that allows for the structure to appear illuminated like a lantern at night.

Because of the complicated city infrastructure, the whole of the theatre was suspended above the base and includes several elements that enable to cubic structure to attain dozens of different configurations for performances.

Find out more about the Perelman Center ›

The post Dezeen’s top 10 US architecture projects of 2023 appeared first on Dezeen.

This week on Dezeen, a polycarbonate London home modelled on a riad was named the Royal Institute of British Architects’ House of the Year for 2023.

The House of the Year prize – which is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to the best one-off, architect-designed house in the UK – went to Green House in Tottenham, London.

The home was designed by architecture studio Hayhurst & Co, which slotted it into a tight site in an alleyway. The “green oasis” features plenty of greenery and has a facade with sliding polycarbonate screens.

Colour specialist Pantone announced a subtle orangey hue called Peach Fuzz as its colour of the year this week. According to Pantone, the pale hue was chosen to express a yearning for community and cosiness during uncertain times.

“Peach Fuzz is a compassionate and nurturing soft peach shade whose heartfelt kindness and all-embracing spirit enriches mind, body and soul,” said the institute’s vice president Laurie Pressman.

Miami art week began this week and we reported on a number of projects being shown as part of the design event. In the Miami Design District, Tesla unveiled its angular stainless-steel Cybertruck. The controversial design is now available in showrooms.

Another car design seen at the event was designer Marjan van Aubel’s “interpretation” of an electric Lexus model created using a series of multicoloured, illuminated photovoltaic sheets.

Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Frank Gehry showcased handbags designed for fashion house Louis Vuitton in Miami, including bags that were informed by his Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Pop Culture.

This week also saw Dezeen’s digital editor Rupert Bickersteth interview French shoe designer Christian Louboutin about his work.

The designer shared his belief that it’s “fine to be useless,” adding: “You sort of have to be perseverant. And when you are believing in something, you have to go for it.”

We also featured the designer’s latest project, a 13-room boutique hotel in Portugal that was “designed at the scale of the hand”.

In architecture news, this week saw the unveiling of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s design for the Infinite Maldives resort, which will feature rows of timber houses on the water that will surround landscaped gardens.

Architecture studio Foster + Partners also revealed one of its upcoming designs, a mixed-use development in Miami, Florida, that will reference the state’s “vernacular architecture” and be located on the Lincoln Road shopping street.

In an opinion piece this week, artist and designer Freyja Sewell argued that the pod has become a standard part of open-plan interior landscapes, something she believes can be tied to our need for privacy.

“After all, privacy has become an even more elusive and rare condition, with pervasive CCTV, the rise of open-plan offices and the pressure to record and share almost every moment through the ubiquitous camera phone,” Sewell said.

Popular project stories on Dezeen this week included a community centre in India disguised as “ancient ruins”, a renovation of a London home that was designed to create a “country house in miniature” and a duo of sculptural pavilions in the Chilean countryside.

This week on Dezeen

This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week’s top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don’t miss anything.

The post This week we revealed the UK’s best new house appeared first on Dezeen.

After what seemed like a long time due, Tesla very recently handed over the first limited production units of the Cybertruck electric pickup. If you are one of the select few to have gotten your hands on the oddly-shaped truck, you have reasons to rejoice. Unplugged Performance, a developer of stylish and high-performance upgrades for Tesla vehicles, has stepped up with a range of Up Invincible accessories for the Cybertruck that intend to improve every aspect, on and off-road – of the pickup’s driving and ownership experience.

The launch of the aftermarket accessories aligns with the Cybertruck’s delivery event last week, and steps up the customization game for the owners to give their purchase an even more exciting outlook. The range of accessories includes lift kits, steel bumpers, armor, carbon fiber panels, LED lights, and more. All of which individually or together (if your pocket allows) would put the already unique Cybertruck into a never-fatomed pickup category.

Designer: Unplugged Performance

According to the creator, some of the accessories in the Up Invincible range should be available starting this month, while most of them will only be launched in the first quarter of 2024. Nonetheless, while we are at it, the standard upgrades to tune the Cybertruck’s off-roading capabilities include the 2.5-inch lift kit which enhances the ground clearance to 19.5 inches without affecting the truck’s inherent air suspension and other elements.

Taking the word hardcore to the next level are the 20-inch beadlock wheels and the brake rotors. These are meant for off-roading but are legal for everyday commutes in the Cybertruck. While the lift kit is priced at $9,950, the beadlock wheel and brake rotors would set you back up to $2,290 and $2,390 respectively.

The Up Invincible is not only about enhancing the off-road ability of the already capable Cybertruck. In fact, the range of accessories that make the Cybertruck a road wonder includes steel front bumpers, front and rear carbon fiber fender flares, a front bull bar, and an underbody armor that provides ribbed protection for your truck. Additional excitements to retrofit the Cybertruck are a roof rack and a carbon fiber hood with Kevlar reinforcement that fits atop the steel hood of the standard Tesla truck.

What really makes a statement and adds to the umpteen usability is the Unplugged Performance’s fully enclosed and lockable rail-based bed storage system. The storage drawers here are more secure and have a sizable capacity. These are accessible via the tailgate or can be reached through the hatch doors from the top. This $100 system along with a 50-inch LED light bar gives the Cybertruck more flare and functionality.

The retrofit accessories generally add to the drag of a vehicle. How much will these mentioned accessories, and others in the range, affect that of the Cybertruck is not yet pointed out. But these are the first real upgrades to be available for the Tesla’s ambitious pickup truck after the Basecamp tent that we have discussed this past week since the Cybertruck production models have gone out.

The post With its tactical accessories, this company plans to add value and substance to oddly-shaped Cybertruck first appeared on Yanko Design.